This FOG has pride

It was the last part of a hot
July Bakersfield evening
The sun bright as a golden ducat
was setting
sinking behind the gray foot hills
of the coast range

I was out on my bicycle
trying to get in an evening ride

I am what is known in
cycling circles as a FOG
A Fat Old Guy
Think of Lance Armstrong
or any professional cyclist
wearing a fat suit

I was going fast, moving
faster than the next ice
huffing and puffing
like some asthmatic locomotive

I was having fun,
my gaze focused
on the asphalt five feet
ahead of my
trying to pedal faster
trying not to have
a heart attack and die

Then it happened
I got passed by a teenager
a slender beauftiful young woman
riding a red beach cruiser
on the sidewalk
she wasn't even wearing helmet

As she passed me she
looked and me smile
and laughed
Hmmm Hmmm Hmmm

I have my pride
I sped up to catch her
but she was gone
a red and white blur
fast as a bottle rock

It was hopeless.
I headed home trying to avoid,
old age, broken glass
coronary thrombosis and heat stroke..

Capitano Tedeschi

30


This FOG has pride copyright July 23, 2011 by Jamie Jacks